ETACA was an abbreviation for Extra Terrestrial and Alien Contact Agency. At first, specifying both Extra Terrestrial and Alien in the name seemed superfluous, but there was a good reason to do so. Most people, including Lina, always assumed that the first aliens humanity made contact with would come from space. Interdimensional travel, while it was an accepted theme in science fiction, never made it to the mainstream thinking.
“We have two possible theories about the item” - explained Mark, the civilian, as they were walking towards the artifact - “The first is that this other civilization is native to that other universe in the multiverse, or as the fictional literature calls it, the other ‘dimension’, and they found a way to break through the “wall” between that one and ours. How exactly they found Earth is still a question, the favourite explanation for that is they live in a parallel Earth, therefore the two are dimensionally coaligned. The second theory is that the aliens are native to our own universe, and they use the multiverse to travel faster than light. Or, a combination of the two, with multiple other universes, etcetera. Either way, they basically phased the artifact directly here, without any flying device or spaceship. As no one wanted to try and move it, at least not until we understood how it works, we had to build this site around it.”
“I see, thank you for explaining this, but, Colonel, could you please tell me why I am here? I’d like to see the artifact, naturally, but, let me be blunt, what do you get from this?”
“How about we talk about that after you have seen it?”
Although Lina had some misgivings about this, she could read the signs. The colonel was obviously waiting for the right moment to approach the question, and nothing she could say would make him talk now. So, she decided to stay patient and observant, waiting for the right time.
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They didn’t need to go far. After a few minutes of walking, the agent walking in the front opened a door, and stood aside, letting Lina through. Crossing the door she stopped at once and tried to take in the view.
This part of the building was huge, reminding her of the plane hangars she visited sometimes. Just with all gates closed, for obvious reasons. In the middle, instead of a plane, there was a huge standing cylinder made from opaque man-sized glass tubes, terminals, metallic shelves, wires and lights. All in all, the technology looked disappointingly Earthlike. Even the low hum coming from it sounded like normal machinery.
A hand nudged her gently forward, and she realized that she is blocking the doorway for everyone. She stepped aside with a quick ‘sorry’, then looked at the colonel.
“Is this it?” - she asked, motioning towards the strange construction.
“Hmm? This? Oh, no, this is just the life support we built. The artifact is in the middle.”
Life support? Why do they need life support? Lina refrained from asking the question, but she stored the information for revisiting it later.
Walking around the construction, the Colonel led them through an opening, and Lina finally had a good view of the alien device. After observing it for half a minute, she turned back to her company:
“Okay, I think we can tick that part about this thing looking alien. The closest thing I can come up with is rainbow cotton candy made from glass.”
“That sounds surprisingly apt.”
“Soooo… now that I have seen it, and all of these,” - she motioned around - “would you be so kind as to tell me what this is about?”
“Certainly. We would like you to enter it.”